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<h2><a name="SECTION0018710000000000000000">
16.7.1 Example</a>
</h2>
<a name="termios_Example"></a>
<p>
Here's a function that prompts for a password with echoing turned
off.  Note the technique using a separate <tt class="function">tcgetattr()</tt> call
and a <tt class="keyword">try</tt> ... <tt class="keyword">finally</tt> statement to ensure that the
old tty attributes are restored exactly no matter what happens:

<p>
<div class="verbatim"><pre>
def getpass(prompt = "Password: "):
    import termios, sys
    fd = sys.stdin.fileno()
    old = termios.tcgetattr(fd)
    new = termios.tcgetattr(fd)
    new[3] = new[3] &amp; ~termios.ECHO          # lflags
    try:
        termios.tcsetattr(fd, termios.TCSADRAIN, new)
        passwd = raw_input(prompt)
    finally:
        termios.tcsetattr(fd, termios.TCSADRAIN, old)
    return passwd
</pre></div>

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<span class="release-info">Release 2.5.1, documentation updated on 18th April, 2007.</span>
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